Sunday, April 13, 2014

I've just spent the last hour or so looking at my old and older entries on this blog. I look at all the changes that have happened and realize that those entries were just the start. I'm still changing and changing and will be doing more changing.

I have learned that some people I've known for years - well I didn't know them as well as I thought I did. I learned that new friends can mean more to you in a short period of time than others can in years.

And I have learned that government is government and ever the more shall be so. In other words, SNAFU was created by government workers and is still the most appropriate acronym ever to fit so perfectly. My recent experiences follow - and does show the SNAFU and FUBAR to their finest. For those who do not know what those acronyms mean, I'll give hints or google them. SNAFU is Situation Normal all _______ up. FUBAR is ____________ up beyond all reason. So the _____ is the same word in both situations and the G-rated word is Fouled. Putting the two together as SNAFUBAR does make sense.

Ok now for my snafubar - AHA a new one - it goes as follows:

1. Government of the US decrees that if you do not have health insurance, you must, under threat of penalty, go to a specified website and enroll.

I did that.

2. Upon completion of said enrollment, an eligibility notice is issued. Below are the highlights of the notice:

"You recently submitted an application to the Health Insurance Marketplace. We reviewed your application to see if you can get health coverage through the Marketplace and help paying for coverage and health services through: · A new tax credit that can be used right away to lower your monthly premium costs · Health plans that lower your out-of-pocket costs · TennCare (Medicaid) and CoverKids (Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)), which are joint federal and state programs that help with medical costs for people with limited income or special health care needs"

OK, that's what I thought this program was supposed to do. Good, I'm in the right place.

Patience, grasshopper, there are lessons still to learn.
elieve, which apparently advised me "You’re not eligible for a tax credit and cost-sharing reductions (lower copayments, coinsurance and deductibles) for Health Insurance Marketplace coverage because you or a tax filer who will claim you indicated on the application that they’re filing a separate federal income taxreturn from their spouse."

Duh I am legally married to DH. We just haven't lived together in 1 year, 2 months and 14 days. The final time I called the government healthcare number, I talked with a man who actually understood what was going on and said he could complete a new application for me and get this resolved. We discussed the options. After more discussion I was advised that I probably would not like the premium amounts of any of the coverages available through the website.

Note: My COBRA coverage from my former employer would be in excess of 2/3 of my monthly income. The market health plans fall in a similar price range.*** Actually the most recent earth-shattering business the TN legislation has been involved in was making hand-holding for minors in school illegal. See this site for more information. Teaser:

Like any state legislature dealing with 8 percent unemployment and thousands of its residents facing disenfranchisement, the Tennessee Senate is targeting the menace of underage hand-holding.
Last week, the Senate passed
SB 3310, a bill to update the state’s abstinence-based sex education
curriculum to define holding hands and kissing as “gateway sexual
activities.” Just one senator voted against the legislation; 28 voted in favor.
Since the bill specifically bans
teachers from “demonstrating gateway sexual activity”, educators would
be prohibited from even demonstrating what hand-holding is. Breaking
these laws could result in a lawsuit, as Hunter from Daily Kos notes:

So we have Federal SNAFUBARs and State SNAFUBARs and I'm not quite sure which is worse.

Meanwhile on the home front Ravelry members are in the midst of Sock Madness 8 (SM8). Round 2 is finishing up so I expect round 3 will start within the next week. The pattern for sock 2 in SM8 looks so very elegant. The challenge with #2 is called gauge. Gauge for knitters is measured by stitches per inch and rows per inch. My typical socks are knit at 64 stitches around - approximately 8-9 stitches per inch and 9-11 rows per inch. Sock 2 is 80 stitches around and about 15 or 16 rows per inch. Knitters achieve this gauge by using finer yarn (strands smaller around), smaller knitting needles and even tighter knitting. Some times the result would be similar to bending rails off the train tracks with your hands. Others may be a delicate fabric, elegant in appearance because of the tiny stitches. Elements of the sock, in this case the Celtic Knot patterning, fit better in scale with the rest of the garment. The last benefit I can think of would be durability, making smaller stitches means a more dense fabric so less to snag and catch on.

My personal challenge is a pattern called Leopold. Leopold has pretty standard gauge. I have 64 stitches on the needle.

The patterns shown here are repeated on the other side of the sock as well. This is actually my 4th attempt and so far (hitting head on wall for knock on wood), it is going well. I'm knitting this as my participation in a knit-a-long (KAL) which is called do-si-do. Basically you and a partner knit the same pattern. It's all in fun and all participants support each other beautifully both with compliments (all well deserved) and help when problems arise and sympathy or cyber hugs when things go sideways (needle breaks at a wrong time or even personal things such as illness. This is one type of support that can reaffirm your faith in people.

I realize I'm quite wordy but I ran out of one medication and rattling on and on (probably ad nauseum) seems to be part of what is happening to me as a result. There are a few other things - I'm very emotional which is not like me at all. Normally I have a very good public face - others don't see the emotions inside me - which also leads to people feeling I am distant and maybe even cold. A massive headache is also raging on and on for the better part of a week now. It does go away so my system says sleep. I sleep but no rest. Not a good feeling but help is coming. I have an appointment set up where I can get some help at no charge, including medical care and the prescriptions. That is a very good thing for me.

The next entry will cover Leopold - who should be finished. The photo above is for part of the leg of the first sock. I get to do all that over again for sock 2. I think that may be part of the reason I do like knitting socks 2 at a time. It's not possible all of the time and that's ok too. I may have the 2nd Brucie going on as well. I'll show the next unfinished socks to get some special attention. Other things that get attention will be part of Show and Tell.